Unable to see network printers.

Switching from Novell/NT 4 domain to a 2000 domain. Setting up a 2000
(SP3) print server none of the XP pro clients can see the printers in
the printer setup dialog boxes. The printer share names are less than
12 characters.

Word can see the printers but other programs like Adobe reader and IE
6 can not see the printers. In fact if the network printers are the
only ones installed reader errors out with a comdlg32.dll error.

The only fix so far is to install the printer localy using a local
port to the printer share.

Hi,

I have ACER TraveMate notebook and have installed 5
network printers on it that are created on the server. The
laptop connects to our school's network through Wireless
LAN. We have other XP stations too which are Toshiba
laptops and they work fine in the similar configuration.

This laptop sometimes, shows "unable to connect" to two of
the network printers our of 5 printers. While at the same
time if you check on other laptops all the printers are
shown as "Ready". Even by deleting the printer and trying
to re-install it on this laptop does not work because it
does not display any network printers under the server
name, but it does show the server name in the printer
selection box while adding a new printer. By double
clicking the server, nothing happens it does not expand
the list, but I can install the same printer successfully
on the other laptop during that time.

When I check the network connectivity, everything seems
connected at that time, even the shared mapped drive seems
to be working but only those two printers are unable to
connect.

I can get the connection back after I reboot the laptop.
Everything works just perfectly then, but again after few
hours/days it happens again, while the other systems
remain unaffected.

I don't know what's going on, may be it's a problem with
the laptop itself,

Any idea/solution would be much appreciated,

Thanks
Sharad

This sounds somewhat like a problem that I am seeing at
one of our customers. I scoured the internet and the MS
support site, but no mention of this problem.

Our customer has Small Business Server 2000 as domain
master and 9 XP Pro workstations, which means it is using
Active Directory, as opposed to the workgroup browse
master/client. At least 2 of the workstations have
periodic problems printing to a particular shared printer
(LJ1000) that is connected to a workstation. It will work
for a short while, then the printer status goes
to "unavailable."

While it was showing this status, I tried to browse the
printer host machine and was unable to, even though it
showed in the network neighborhood list. Using that
particular client, I could browse the other machines on
the network, but not the one hosting the printer. However,
I could browse the printer host from other workstations on
the network, so it was some kind of stand-off between the
two machines. I rebooted the client and it could then
print.

On one occasion, when I opened the printers folder on the
client machine, the printer status got stuck at "opening"
even though it showed as "ready" when I displayed it in
network neighborhood. In this instance, I could browse the
host workstation and see the printer. I stopped and
started the printer spooler on the client machine and
while the queued print (if it even got to the queue) got
lost, the next print worked. I got this idea from the HP
support site when I searched on Laserjet 1000 vs XP. They
don't say why if it applied to directly connected or
network printers, or why it should be necessary.

My next step may be to connect a Sniffer and capture the
traffic to try to figure out where the fault lies.


Jerry Riedel

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

I have ACER TraveMate notebook and have installed 5
network printers on it that are created on the server.
The
laptop connects to our school's network through Wireless
LAN. We have other XP stations too which are Toshiba
laptops and they work fine in the similar configuration.

This laptop sometimes, shows "unable to connect" to two
of
the network printers our of 5 printers. While at the same
time if you check on other laptops all the printers are
shown as "Ready". Even by deleting the printer and trying
to re-install it on this laptop does not work because it
does not display any network printers under the server
name, but it does show the server name in the printer
selection box while adding a new printer. By double
clicking the server, nothing happens it does not expand
the list, but I can install the same printer successfully
on the other laptop during that time.

When I check the network connectivity, everything seems
connected at that time, even the shared mapped drive
seems
to be working but only those two printers are unable to
connect.

I can get the connection back after I reboot the laptop.
Everything works just perfectly then, but again after few
hours/days it happens again, while the other systems
remain unaffected.

I don't know what's going on, may be it's a problem with
the laptop itself,

Any idea/solution would be much appreciated,

Thanks
Sharad

.

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that the problem
started after all workstations were upgraded from Win98 to
XP Pro. Also, some workstations can apparently print to
this printer without any problem.

Any ideas, Microsoft? :-)

Jerry Riedel

-----Original Message-----
This sounds somewhat like a problem that I am seeing at
one of our customers. I scoured the internet and the MS
support site, but no mention of this problem.

Our customer has Small Business Server 2000 as domain
master and 9 XP Pro workstations, which means it is using
Active Directory, as opposed to the workgroup browse
master/client. At least 2 of the workstations have
periodic problems printing to a particular shared printer
(LJ1000) that is connected to a workstation. It will work
for a short while, then the printer status goes
to "unavailable."

While it was showing this status, I tried to browse the
printer host machine and was unable to, even though it
showed in the network neighborhood list. Using that
particular client, I could browse the other machines on
the network, but not the one hosting the printer.
However,
I could browse the printer host from other workstations
on
the network, so it was some kind of stand-off between the
two machines. I rebooted the client and it could then
print.

On one occasion, when I opened the printers folder on the
client machine, the printer status got stuck at "opening"
even though it showed as "ready" when I displayed it in
network neighborhood. In this instance, I could browse
the
host workstation and see the printer. I stopped and
started the printer spooler on the client machine and
while the queued print (if it even got to the queue) got
lost, the next print worked. I got this idea from the HP
support site when I searched on Laserjet 1000 vs XP. They
don't say why if it applied to directly connected or
network printers, or why it should be necessary.

My next step may be to connect a Sniffer and capture the
traffic to try to figure out where the fault lies.


Jerry Riedel

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

I have ACER TraveMate notebook and have installed 5
network printers on it that are created on the server.
The
laptop connects to our school's network through Wireless
LAN. We have other XP stations too which are Toshiba
laptops and they work fine in the similar configuration.

This laptop sometimes, shows "unable to connect" to two
of
the network printers our of 5 printers. While at the
same
time if you check on other laptops all the printers are
shown as "Ready". Even by deleting the printer and
trying
to re-install it on this laptop does not work because it
does not display any network printers under the server
name, but it does show the server name in the printer
selection box while adding a new printer. By double
clicking the server, nothing happens it does not expand
the list, but I can install the same printer
successfully
on the other laptop during that time.

When I check the network connectivity, everything seems
connected at that time, even the shared mapped drive
seems
to be working but only those two printers are unable to
connect.

I can get the connection back after I reboot the laptop.
Everything works just perfectly then, but again after
few
hours/days it happens again, while the other systems
remain unaffected.

I don't know what's going on, may be it's a problem with
the laptop itself,

Any idea/solution would be much appreciated,

Thanks
Sharad

.

.

Hi,

A similar problem here for a client.

Have a SBS2000 server setup.. shared printers on local (mainly win98) PC's.
One XP Pro workstation can work on the network with no problem. After about
30 minutes or so connections to shared printers on other workstations change
to "Opening" then "Unable to Connect". Sometimes stopping and restarting the
Print Spool Service will clear the problem (for another 30 minutes) other
times a reboot is needed.

Anyone with any suggestions to this problem??


"Sharad Rai" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have ACER TraveMate notebook and have installed 5
network printers on it that are created on the server. The
laptop connects to our school's network through Wireless
LAN. We have other XP stations too which are Toshiba
laptops and they work fine in the similar configuration.

This laptop sometimes, shows "unable to connect" to two of
the network printers our of 5 printers. While at the same
time if you check on other laptops all the printers are
shown as "Ready". Even by deleting the printer and trying
to re-install it on this laptop does not work because it
does not display any network printers under the server
name, but it does show the server name in the printer
selection box while adding a new printer. By double
clicking the server, nothing happens it does not expand
the list, but I can install the same printer successfully
on the other laptop during that time.

When I check the network connectivity, everything seems
connected at that time, even the shared mapped drive seems
to be working but only those two printers are unable to
connect.

I can get the connection back after I reboot the laptop.
Everything works just perfectly then, but again after few
hours/days it happens again, while the other systems
remain unaffected.

I don't know what's going on, may be it's a problem with
the laptop itself,

Any idea/solution would be much appreciated,

Thanks
Sharad

John - question for you - are they/you running as a domain
or a workgroup? If as a domain, the main difference
between my customer's setup and yours is that you are
running mostly Win98 clients (mine are all XP Pro). The
odd thing is that only one out of the nine XP clients
seems to be affected, but only in regards to this
particular printer. If I change her default printer to
another shared printer, the problem goes away. Conversely,
other clients can print to the "problem" printer without
any problems.

Jerry

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

A similar problem here for a client.

Have a SBS2000 server setup.. shared printers on local
(mainly win98) PC's.
One XP Pro workstation can work on the network with no
problem. After about
30 minutes or so connections to shared printers on other
workstations change
to "Opening" then "Unable to Connect". Sometimes stopping
and restarting the
Print Spool Service will clear the problem (for another
30 minutes) other
times a reboot is needed.

Anyone with any suggestions to this problem??


"Sharad Rai" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have ACER TraveMate notebook and have installed 5
network printers on it that are created on the server.
The
laptop connects to our school's network through Wireless
LAN. We have other XP stations too which are Toshiba
laptops and they work fine in the similar configuration.

This laptop sometimes, shows "unable to connect" to two
of
the network printers our of 5 printers. While at the
same
time if you check on other laptops all the printers are
shown as "Ready". Even by deleting the printer and
trying
to re-install it on this laptop does not work because it
does not display any network printers under the server
name, but it does show the server name in the printer
selection box while adding a new printer. By double
clicking the server, nothing happens it does not expand
the list, but I can install the same printer
successfully
on the other laptop during that time.

When I check the network connectivity, everything seems
connected at that time, even the shared mapped drive
seems
to be working but only those two printers are unable to
connect.

I can get the connection back after I reboot the laptop.
Everything works just perfectly then, but again after
few
hours/days it happens again, while the other systems
remain unaffected.

I don't know what's going on, may be it's a problem with
the laptop itself,

Any idea/solution would be much appreciated,

Thanks
Sharad



.

In article ,
says...
Hi,

A similar problem here for a client.

Have a SBS2000 server setup.. shared printers on local (mainly win98) PC's.
One XP Pro workstation can work on the network with no problem. After about
30 minutes or so connections to shared printers on other workstations change
to "Opening" then "Unable to Connect". Sometimes stopping and restarting the
Print Spool Service will clear the problem (for another 30 minutes) other
times a reboot is needed.

Anyone with any suggestions to this problem??


"Sharad Rai" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have ACER TraveMate notebook and have installed 5
network printers on it that are created on the server. The
laptop connects to our school's network through Wireless
LAN. We have other XP stations too which are Toshiba
laptops and they work fine in the similar configuration.

This laptop sometimes, shows "unable to connect" to two of
the network printers our of 5 printers. While at the same
time if you check on other laptops all the printers are
shown as "Ready". Even by deleting the printer and trying
Hello,
I had a close problem to yours on the printer being "disconnected".
What I did for my problem was that I have a DOS program that has to
print to two printers. LPT1 and LPT2. There is a batch file that starts
the DOS program and the very first part of the batch file I have:
net use lpt1 \\computername\printer1 /persistent:no
net use lpt2 \\computername\printer2 /persistent:no
I think that there is also a tab on the icon where yoy can say to start
a batch file also.
If you have XP-Pro you can use local policy to do the same.
Hope this helps......



to re-install it on this laptop does not work because it
does not display any network printers under the server
name, but it does show the server name in the printer
selection box while adding a new printer. By double
clicking the server, nothing happens it does not expand
the list, but I can install the same printer successfully
on the other laptop during that time.

When I check the network connectivity, everything seems
connected at that time, even the shared mapped drive seems
to be working but only those two printers are unable to
connect.

I can get the connection back after I reboot the laptop.
Everything works just perfectly then, but again after few
hours/days it happens again, while the other systems
remain unaffected.

I don't know what's going on, may be it's a problem with
the laptop itself,

Any idea/solution would be much appreciated,

I've found this happens when either the print server does not have Windows
XP ("Version 3") drivers installed or there are mismatched driver versions
between what is on the print server and what is on the clients.

Some "Windows 2000" printer drivers are really "Version 2" drivers which are
for NT 4 and 2000. Some of these work with XP and some don't.

Also, MS Office doesn't use the Windows standard print dialog; it has its
own. The symptom of Word "seeing" the printers while other applications
don't is symptomatic of the mismatched driver situation. The behaviour of
the Windows standard print dialog is different from that of the MS Office
version. We've found that some applications either refuse to start or take
a very long time (like 10 minutes) to start when there are printer driver
issues with network printers.

Particularly if you have HP printers, the document at
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...objectID=bpl13
043 may prove useful.

See http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm for how to
install clean up the drivers on the client workstations.

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP

It's perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.


"Turbo" wrote in message
om...
Switching from Novell/NT 4 domain to a 2000 domain. Setting up a 2000
(SP3) print server none of the XP pro clients can see the printers in
the printer setup dialog boxes. The printer share names are less than
12 characters.

Word can see the printers but other programs like Adobe reader and IE
6 can not see the printers. In fact if the network printers are the
only ones installed reader errors out with a comdlg32.dll error.

The only fix so far is to install the printer localy using a local
port to the printer share.